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Therapy dogs can spread MRSA, but antibacterials may reduce risk

While therapy dogs can help ease anxiety for kids with cancer, they may
also carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can put patients at risk
for serious infections.
Cleaning the dogs with antibacterial shampoo and wipes reduces that risk, according to researchers.

The new study included therapy dogs that visit kids receiving outpatient
cancer treatment at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Children's Hospital in
Baltimore. The dogs do several one-on-one and group visits each day,
often going to different departments or other hospitals.

"It's amazing to watch just how excited the children get when they see
the dogs for the first time, and they enjoy petting, hugging, kissing
and playing fetch with them. The visits are really helpful in easing
their anxiety and stress," said study author Kathryn Dalton.

"But because they go from session to session, the dogs can pick up and
spread MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)," Dalton
added. She's a doctoral candidate in the department of environmental
health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of
Public Health.

MRSA can cause a staph infection that is resistant to many common
antibiotics. The risk is higher for people whose immune systems are
weakened, such as cancer patients.

The research team found that shampooing the dogs with the antibiotic
chlorhexidine before their first visit of the day and using
chlorhexidine wipes every five to 10 minutes during visits reduced the
risk that the dogs would pick up and spread MRSA to the patients.

The study was presented Oct. 5, in San Francisco, at ID Week, a joint
meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for
Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association and the
Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.

"This simple, low-cost intervention helps increase patient safety while
still ensuring that young patients with cancer can benefit from these
therapy dogs," Dalton said in a meeting news release.

The study included 45 cancer patients, aged 2 to 20, and four therapy
dogs. After seven sessions in which the dogs were not treated with
chlorhexidine, four patients (15 percent) became MRSA carriers, as did
three dogs (43 percent).

In six sessions in which chlorhexidine was used on the dogs, one patient
(4.5 percent) became a MRSA carrier, as did two dogs (33 percent), the
findings showed.

When the dogs weren't treated with the antibiotic, patients who had
close interactions with them (petting, hugging, brushing their fur and
spending more time) were six times more likely to become MRSA carriers
than those who didn't, the study found.

But chlorhexidine eliminated that difference, the researchers reported.